I ordered the kit from an ebay seller in Poland. Price was $48.00 shipped to Northern California. Shipping took a while but it's been my experience items from Eastern Europe take longer than those from Asia.

The kit seems to be popular as a number of sellers are out or have raised the price to that of kits in heaven.

THe kit arrived well packed. The box is fairly light and unnecessarily large. This shipper (or the manufacturer) filled the voids with air pillows and the sprues etc. rode well.

THe kit is formed with light gray plastic and is fairly soft. There is very little flash and all the edges are crisp. No warping or deformed parts. Tires are soft vinyl or rubber. I didn't open the package. They are shiny, looks like the are lettered.They will need dulling, a simple task.

THe detail looks good. The engine is fairly complete and shows well as is but a skilled modeller will be able to add plug wires, an improved fan belt, the fording gear metal lines, fuel, oil, and other under hood trinkets. Like the original there is a lot of room to work under the hood.

THe LU4 winch appears accurate. Controls on the correct side, etc, scaled correctly. Roden has included a fifteen inch piece of black cord to wind around the drum. It's in the centerfold of the directions. The cord is out of scale as the vehicle was spec'd with 150' feet of 6X37 5/16" steel cable. This for all the rivet and wire counters out there.

There are a lot of Trumeteresque and MiniArtlike small parts that are well cast, with little or no flash,gear levers, suspension parts and the like. The frame rails and cross members are a one piece casting. Whoopie! The Jerry can mount has the correct single strap molded on. The drive train detail is excellent. The kit has the correct of the era side mirrors.

If you decide to mount the spare tire in the bed the passenger side troop seat will have to be modified to properly mount the spare. Lop off the troop seat to to 1.71" which should scale to 60", the length of the seat in 1:1. The door and bed mounts use the same spinner and plate. Later models use a piece of channel across the wheel to secure the tire in the bed, as did many in the field when the plate disappeared.

On to the canvas. It is what it is. Accurate canvas is very hard to mold in scale and this kit is no exception. New canvas on the originals fit loosely and flapped around a lot. Rain and sun cycles tightened it up. You judge how you want the vehicle to look. Roden has tried to mold more floppyness in the canvas than some of the German softskin kits have.

I drove one for a while in VietNam. We took the canvas and bows off the bed or rolled up the side curtains leaving the top covered. Monsoon season we buttoned them up. That is when we could find the canvas we took off during the dry weather. I took the canvas off the cab and dropped the windscreen, but later reinstalled it. I think the kit will look best with the cab covered, windows open, bows and scratched canvas with rolled up side curtains, ala the box art. Blondes, brunettes thing, I guess. There are enough pictures from the era available to make a decision. The window on the cab canvas is plastic. The kits' is solid plastic. IMO leave it open.

THe directions are very straightforward and clear. Starts building from the running gear up. Since I haven't begun assembling the kit I can't address any problems with the order of build or mis numberering of parts etc. The canvas came an OD/brownish color but soon faded to a light brown canvas color. The original manufacturer still makes replacement canvas for collectors (like me).

Now for paint scheme: First a short history. Chryslers' Dodge Division built all of the M37s beginning at the Warren Truck Plant, then Lynch Road Plant, and Mound Rd (9 Mile & Sherwood)IIRC) truck plant. THe Army spec'd olive drab. the Marine Corps flat forest green and later semi gloss dark green. However..... as the vehicles were dispersed to Army Ordinance and Navy Procurement plant run prevailed. Orders were filled with whatever color was available from whichever plant could provide units. The result was the Marine Corps got OD and vice versa. There was a time overlap of supplies of the two colors after WW2, Korea and then VietNam. THe one I drove was dusty flat forest green and later muddy flat forest green.

So, which is correct for a particular era. For the Army OD and its various shadings, not a problem. THe Marine Corps, another matter. Since I was on Uncle Sams' Mud Crawling team in the early sixties My interest is the Marine Corps.

Since this model is of a 1952/3 unit MC flat forest green (34097) or Semi gloss dark green (24052) is correct. We had both colors on the vehicles in the outfits I was with from '62 to '66. While stationed at the Marine Corps MT Schools Company our stock of M35's, M54s, wreckers, dump trucks, low bed tractors and tank recovery vehicles had both colors. The Mighty Mites and some of the Mules we had in Okinawa which we took to VN were painted Semi gloss green. Incidentally Gillespie Paint still makes the colors.

THe pioneer tools on the end gate were painted green. Every surface. Handles, everything.

Since I served in the Marine Corps and since the Corps spec'd a couple of modifications that is the color scheme and tac marking I am going to use.

Thimble looking lifting bales were welded to the front bumper at a 45* up angle. 5/8 rod was used. Additionally guards were fabbed surrounding the rear lights. Google images or go to the Steel Soldiers site and Google "paperclip brackets on m37s". THeir term, not mine.

Marine Corps numbers and tac markings were very simple. Block letters, various heights allowed, but 2 3/4" were most common. No periods. USMC and registration number on the hood sides. Registration number on the raised center section of the end gate in "gold", actually chrome yellow. Some units allowed for gaps in the stencils. In others,(my outfit) a couple of us spent a day as graphic artists filling the blank areas with a small paint brush. MP vehicles had their own marking system.

No white lettering, no stars. No yellow bridge plate, only Tp 40, and 12 volts stenciled on the left side electrical tap on radio vehicles, small, four to six inch unit marking on the doors. No paragraph describing how to fill a fuel tank. Sometimes a Max speed warning and reminder on the dash to install the bell housing plug when fording. Unit MTOs were able to spec other warnings but few did.

I am hoping Archer or another aftermarket supplier produces USMC lettering and tac mark decals or transfers of that era.

So... you can now uncross your eyes and go on to another thread, cuz I'm finished.

Tony

Good info. It sounds like it will be a good kit. Standing by for build pics and further commentary. I have wanted one of these for a while too and was waiting for a review to get the kit. Might just have to get one now.

Yeah, It looks like it will be a straight forward build. I'm finishing a tracked kubelwagen and have a VW sedan to finish. Then my VW collection will be complete.

The price is the price. The modern kits are pricey and is bringing up the cost of reissues and reboxed kits. However they will become less expensive will should come down a little when supply catches demand. THe Asian sellers, Lucky Model etc. will discount them as ebay sellers will.

Tony

If you give Archer the info they might. Woody is easy to work with.

KL

Thanks for the info. I will be getting at least one when I get around to it. One comment regarding paint in Vietnam. The normal color for the Army was 24087, an OD with a luster finish. The mil spec for 24087 in the Nam period is not the same as the current mil spec for 24087. (Ran into this when painting my 12":1' M37). Randolf currently makes the old mil spec 254087 which is slightly darker and less yellow/brown than the modern version. In the end, most anything could be correct as the intense sun in Nam faded the paint very fast and field repaints were, how shall I say, at the discretion of the guy mixing the paint.
It appears that the M37 on the box is the B1 (later version) so for Korea, the spare must be relocated to the bed as Tony mentioned.

Actually there is no such thing as modern FS 24087. The color has been eliminated from the FS list many years ago.

It was your shipper. I picked one up from Scale Hobbyist and it was just the bagged sprues loose in the huge box. I was quite surprised seeing the size of the box, it's longer than the standard AFV, Dragon, Trumpeter boxes. No idea why Roden didn't use one of their smaller standard size boxes for this kit.

I think I paid around $40 for it, which isn't bad I thought. Glad to have an M37 finally in kit form. Now need the M54 to go along with it.

I was impressed they included a canvas cover since it seems pretty rare, unfortunately I don't like the look of it at all though.

Good review. I just received mine the other day and agree that it looks pretty good. My only comment is that I wish they had included the rolled up tarp like the box art shows. This or no tarp was how ours were in 'nam. Still, a very nice kit. Wayne

Hi Wayne,

I also like the look with the side curtains rolled up. It's not hard to scratch the tarp. a 50/50 H20 or ??? PVA glue, some flower paper or Kleenex (leave it two ply for enough body) roll it up and use narrow strips of masking tape to duplicate the leather straps on the bows holding the curtains up. A little wrinkled and drooping is good.

Another alternative is rolling the tarp and securing it across the front top bow draping it to the top edge of the bed. Just like in 1:1 there are many ways of attaching the canvas.


Tons of tutorials available here and elsewhere, from the elegantly simple to NASA designed and spec'd.

Tony

Yeah Tony, wasn't really a complaint, more like a wishful thinking kind of comment. Have tried the tissue process on the old Monogram Eager Beaver duece and a half back when I first got back into building. But just covered the old plastic cover,didn't look that bad then. Nothing like the nice stuff I see on here. Wayne

I know. I saw a tarp at a show that was incredibly realistic. The builder had reproduced the seamed edges and grommets. It was slow near his display so I asked him "HTH". He used a .049" pounce wheel which has a spacing of .041". Scales to 1.5" or so inches. He then went between the impressions with a dulled pin and finished the job.

A pounce wheel is like a stiching guide but used by sign painters and artists for outlining and transferring drawings or lettering to work surfaces

Never happen in my world.

I forgot to mention thinned silicone sealer can be used making tarps. Just add warm water at about 1 silicone to 2 water. Mix it well. Experiment a little with ratios. Paint it on a tissue and let it dry. I have used an airbrush with a .4mm tip. It worked well.

It is really durable, can be handled without tearing and takes paint very well.

Well, I have started to assemble mine and have to say that I'm less than impressed with how finicky the drivetrain is to assemble. As there are no alignment pins to locate several of the pieces making them difficult to keep straight and in place before the glue can set. It just slows the process down. I bought 2 of them and plan on finishing this first one to match the real 53' M37 I have in my collection and then build the second one to match one of the M37's my father drove while in service.

I've used this method for making realistic tarps, etc. - takes about a week, but is very realistic: liquid rubber latex (smelly stuff) and one paper napkin (plain, not embossed). Napkin is preferred as it won't disintegrate like tissue. Smooth out the napkin and tape it to a flat surface - scrap wood will do. Brush on a coat of latex. Let dry overnight and apply another coat. Repeat for three or four coats. Use crappy disposable brushes as the latex will ruin them. When dry you will have a large piece of tarpaulin material with texture. Paint it.

Hi Dave (Beast)

Check your inbox. I sent you a message.

Tony

The more I work with this kit, the more I'm becoming disappointed in it. The order of assembly in the instructions are horrible and with the lack of alignment pins means that items you build 3 steps ago might not fit now that it's time to install them. So I have resorted to looking ahead and trying to build it in sub sections in my order so that things fit proper. If you try and build the cab like the instruction show without first building the doors it will never fit together. I prebuild the doors so that I could get the proper spacing and fitment so that when I do ad the doors, I know they will fit proper. Other problems I have found are warped and mis-fitting parts. Overall the kit will finish out fine, but could have been a lot easier with just a few little things to help the builder.

A little more progress.

Looking good. Any update on it? I just ordered one and am curious how it turned out.

Yep, just finished uploading some new pics just this morning.






The decals where my next big complaint for the kit as most of the stars are the incorrect size as well as the US ARMY and registration numbers for the sides of the hood. Luckily a little digging around in my spares boxes netted me stars in the correct scale size and some hood markings from another kit. In true scale the hood star should be 20" and the stars for the doors 14" and the hood markings should be 3" tall lettering. All in all this has not been my favorite kit to work on. It arrived with a few broke parts on the sprues, and the difficultly in alignment of the parts with no alignment pins just made for a difficult kit. Everything just seamed to need to take twice as long as it should have if Roden would have put a bit more thought into how the pieces attached and what order they went. Things like the headlights have just a little flat nub on the back that has to hold the weight of the light while trying to position them. Which resulted in having to build temporary shim spacers to hold them while the glue set. Also there appears to be a few inaccuracies with the model from the real truck. The model sits way to tall on the suspension, and the spacing between the end of the front fenders and the doors looks too short. I don't know, maybe the fact that I have a real one out in the garage makes me a little too critical, but it would have been nicer if the kit assembled easier.

I see in the photos that the left side engine cover (vertical) has a crack. The very same piece broke on mine during removal from the sprue, but I was able to smoothly re-connect without it being obvious. Also, my transmission shifter was too thin to support it's own weight, while the one in the photos looks much more substantial, something I wish was in my kit.

The VN-era photo of the radio relay truck shows quite a difference in tire size appearance between the pictured truck and the kit wheels.

Yep the engine side panel came broken in the box along with the passenger side front fender. I had glued and smoothed them all back out. But due to the ill fitment of the front end pieces, the side panel broke again while trying to align everything and at that point I had had enough and left it as it was.